Public hearing held on request to rezone 14.64 acres on Deep River Road from residential-agricultural to light industrial

Wake Stone Property Company asked the Lee County Board of Commissioners on Dec. 16 to rezone 14.64 acres along Deep River Road from residential-agricultural (RA) to light industrial.

The request covers five adjoining tracts in the Deep River community, opposite Wake Stone Corporation's Moncure Quarry, and seeks a general-use rezoning to allow development of a speculative light-industrial or flex-industrial building. Because the application is for general-use (not conditional) rezoning, no site plan or building plan was filed with the rezoning petition.

Why it matters: A change from RA to light industrial would broaden the range of uses allowed on the property, potentially allowing manufacturing, warehousing, motor-vehicle repair and similar activities that the county's Unified Development Ordinance permits in the light-industrial district. Staff noted the parcel lies within the Cape Fear/Lee County watershed protection area and that there is public water on Deep River Road but no public sewer in the immediate area; any development would require approvals from Sanford Public Works, Tri-County (Tri-River) Water and review of off-site improvements by NCDOT for driveways and any required turn lanes.

Applicant presentation: Bose Bratton, president of Wake Stone Property Company, said the site's proximity to U.S. 1 and existing commercial uses makes light industrial a reasonable reuse, that the company plans to build an attractive structure to invest locally and create jobs, and that some of the properties in the rezoning area have already been purchased by Wakestone.

Public comments: Two residents who identified themselves as adjacent-property owners spoke at the hearing. Carol Culberson Smith, who said she co-owns the adjoining property at 7190 Deep River Road (formerly Culberson Motor Lines), asked how the rezoning would affect that property; county staff confirmed the rezoning application would not change the zoning of adjacent parcels and applies only to the subject properties. Barbara Matthews Partridge of West Forest Steps Drive, who said she lives about a half-mile from the site, urged commissioners to deny the rezoning, describing Deep River Road as "narrow and extremely congested," noting heavy quarry truck traffic, and saying the road serves an elementary school and buses.

Staff analysis and context: Planning staff noted the county's long-range land-use plan designates the site as "countryside," a classification that generally discourages industrial zoning. Staff told the board that the decision to rezone is a policy determination for the commissioners, and that the planning staff report and public-hearing record should inform the board's ultimate decision.

Board action: The board opened the public hearing, heard proponents and opposers, and then closed the hearing. No final rezoning vote was recorded or announced during the Dec. 16 meeting.

Clarifying details provided in the hearing: the site has roughly 795 feet of frontage on NCDOT-maintained Deep River Road; the NCDOT average daily traffic count cited for the stretch in front of the site was about 1,400 vehicles per day (2022 data); staff noted an 8-inch public water main along Deep River Road and indicated development would require approval for water/sewer connections and any off-site improvements.

Next steps: The record from the public hearing and staff's rezoning report will inform commissioners' deliberations at a later agenda item or meeting when the board considers a final zoning decision.